Sudbury architecture students working to reimagine this Flour Mill street

One street in the Flour Mill neighbourhood of Greater Sudbury is on the cusp of revitalization as 65 university students will be developing improvement ideas for Laforest Avenue.

Students from Laurentian University's School of Architecture will be walking up and down the street on Friday.

Their sustainable design professor, Ted Wilson, says students will be taking notes and adds it's part of an assignment to come up with strategies for possible improvements.

"To develop visual proposals as how you would change certain aspects of each block to improve their livability, their walkability, their well-temperedness," he said.

"This ties to a course on sustainable design at the community level."

Wilson says from there, students will come up with ideas to create a well-tempered neighbourhood.

He says that method includes three strategies, including improving safety, making the area more comfortable and highlighting points of interest to keep people in the area.

Wilson says the student's reports will be for information only that could be used by the businesses on the street.

"Then they would want to work as local owners to say 'there's an idea that I could talk to the city about,' you know, in terms of the monies that are available, for example, for facade improvements."

Community partnerships

Along with the school, the other partners in this revitalization project are the City of Greater Sudbury, the Flour Mill Business Improvement Association (BIA) and the local Community Action Network (CAN).

Daniel Boucher with the Flour Mill BIA says business owners along the street would be able to apply for grants, from the Community Improvement Plan, to make future changes.

"We hope that this would give encouragement to the owner to invest in the area to make it nicer," he said.

Area councillor Joscelyne Landry Altmann says she envisions a distinct style for the street in the Flour Mill.

"Our goal is to develop a distinct style for the Flour Mill," she said.

"And to bring this historic area to its previous glory if possible but certainly to give it a special design to encourage investment."

The public will get a chance to check out the various visions dreamed up by the architecture students' at a presentation in St Jean de Brebeuf Church hall Sept. 28.